The First Trailer For 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald' Is Here

posted by Emily Lee -

1 week ago

The wait is finally over. The first teaser trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the latest addition to the Harry Potter film universe, has arrived via owl post. Just kidding, it dropped on Youtube this afternoon. Not as magical, to be fair, but I'll take it. This trailer has everything: Hogwarts! Young Dumbledore! Newt! The guy with the mustache whose name I can't think of right now! Paris! Clocking in at just under two minutes, this trailer manages to pique some interest on where this (somewhat unnecessary) franchise is headed next.

Right from the outset of the trailer, it's clear Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is really only interested in teasing one thing. And it doesn't have anything to do with its lead character Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne. The big allure of this film, of course, is the integral role a young Albus Dumbledore will play in the action. Jude Law was tapped to play the iconic character in the Harry Potter spinoff series and the new trailer really draws out his introduction. Newt and his cohorts from the first film are barely given any attention until the back half of the teaser. There's also not much screen time for the titular fantastic beasts, either.

The Crimes of Grindelwald picks up where 2016's first film left off, according to Buzzfeed. Gellert Grindelwald, played controversially by Johnny Depp, has escaped after being captured by MACUSA aka the Magical Congress of the United States of America. This isn't too surprising for anybody who has read any of the Harry Potter books and knows how Grindelwald's story ends. Hint: an epic wand duel is involved. Now that he's escaped the clutches of MACUSA, Grindelwald is gaining power and acquiring followers to carry out his evil agenda.

The trailer reveals that young Dumbledore - though I suppose in the movie's time frame he's just "middle aged Dumbledore" or just, you know, "Dumbledore" - has tapped Newt Scamander to help him stop Grindelwald. I'm not sure why Dumbledore can't go after Grindelwald himself or why he would turn to a Magizoologist to bring down one of the most powerful dark wizards of all time in his absence, but we all know Dumbledore is fond of enlisting his students for dangerous missions. For example, every year Harry Potter was at Hogwarts ever.

The trailer also gives us our first look at Zoe Kravitz as Leta Lestrange, as well. She was briefly mentioned in the first movie because Newt carried a picture of her around with him. Is that a love triangle between Newt, Leta, and Tina I foresee? Definitely seems like a possibility. I guess I'll just have to wait until the film arrives in theaters on Nov. 16, 2018.